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How many times have you been to Mykonos? |
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I’ve gone three times, and really traveled a lot each time. The second time I went because I planned on having a story take place there, so I went for full-on research. |
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Ah yes, your book Another World includes Mykonos. |
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Yeah. The second time around, I knew full well what I was going to do, so I didn’t stay at the posh hotel on the beach, but an inn located in downtown Mykonos Town. With nothing to do on the beach, I thought I’d spend my time enjoying the actual town. |
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So you were in town all day?
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No, I went to the beach in the afternoon. I rented a car and took a trip to Elia Beach. |
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Elia Beach is pretty far away from Mykonos Town, but the sea is shallow, and the white sands are gorgeous. |
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Yeah. And the water’s cold. Once I went in, I knew it’d be freezing when I got out of the water, so I couldn’t quite get myself to get out. And it’s too cold if you stop moving at all within the water, so I always swam until my body hurt. |
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Are there any pools on the island? |
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There are. Some of the hotels have pools, but even those were pretty cold. (laughs) |
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The Paradise Beach and Super Paradise Beach on Mykonos are famous; did you go there? |
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I went for a little bit, but I mostly went to Elia Beach. People were too naked at those other two beaches. |
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Naked?! |
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They’re nude beaches, but you can still wear clothes and swimsuits.
▲Super Paradise Beach |
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Yeah, you can still wear clothes. But with that nude beach, there’s the area out front, and the area in back, and when you go further back, it’s another world entirely. |
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What do you mean? |
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The further back you go into the beach, the more you’ll only see men. |
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It’s famous as a gay beach. |
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And everyone there was just bursting with confidence, so the further you go, the more you realize there’s no one there but men who are like, “Look at me!” and “I pump iron!” And something I’ve only ever seen in Greece—lots of people like, “I’ve toned my body just for the sake of coming here!” Lots of couples with nice bodies. |
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With perfectly-balanced suntans. |
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Dang!
▲Paradise Beach gets packed every summer |
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Yeah. People act like they can’t show anything off unless it’s good enough. I’ve never been snubbed by a rich person in Mykonos before, but there have been plenty of times in the rest of Europe that I’ve been snubbed by rich people for being Japanese. That’s not at all what it’s like in the beaches in Mykonos. Everyone just acts like the time has come for them to stand upon the stage. |
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Like they’re stars. |
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Also, people use their laptops while sitting naked in the beach chairs. |
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Using a laptop nude?! I can see reading a book, but... |
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Yeah, I could see reading. |
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But appliances seems a bit much. (laughs) |
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Now that you mention it, the friends I went to Mykonos with had gone to the beach ahead of us and gotten naked, but when we got there, it was hilarious to see them hurry to put their clothes back on. I told them not to worry about it, but they were too embarrassed, and put their underwear back on and wrapped a towel around themselves. |
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Their reaction’s what’s embarrassing! |
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That awkward moment they came to their senses. |
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So after that happened, and because I had my son with me, I chose Elia Beach because it’s so peaceful, and because there are less nudists. |
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Yeah, the other ones might be a bit much for children. |
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Also, this is unrelated to Mykonos, but is that okay? I heard the essayist Teruko Takano went to a nudist beach, but that wasn’t in Greece, it was in a famous nudist colony in France. They’ll go to an ATM in the nude, stuff like that. |
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Huh? Carrying their wallet in the nude? |
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Yeah. And they’ll go to the restaurants nude. |
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NO WAY! |
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They’re always nude. And she said she figured that if she went to that village, she might as well join them. But she said she couldn’t calm down, because even when she was looking down at the menu, she could see her own naked body, so she left. |
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That’s gotta hurt if you spill something hot. |
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Yeah, that can’t be good. (laughs) Anyway, Mykonos isn’t that extreme, and people are only naked on the nude beaches, so I don’t mind it. |
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But that’s pretty crazy, too. |
